Murders are not shocking in this city once called the nation's most dangerous. But even this place is shaken by the killing, still unsolved after five months, of a 12-year-old boy whose skull was so badly shattered by bullets that an undertaker used a top hat to hide the damage.

Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians are slowly pushing through the tangle of their disputes and suspicions in a race to save a biblical and ecological treasure, the Dead Sea. The famously salty sea, which lies at Earth's lowest point, is shrinking.

It's party time in the sports world. With Super Bowl XLI and the NBA All-Star Game headed to all-night party towns Miami and Las Vegas, get ready for a nearly three-week bacchanal of sports, sex, gambling and celebrity. This year the games are two weeks apart in cities either among the most fun in America or Sodom and Gomorrah, depending on one's point of view.

In a landmark ruling, Israel's Supreme Court ordered the government Tuesday to recognize same-sex marriages performed abroad. The lone dissenter on the seven-judge panel was an observant Jew, highlighting the controversy touched off among ultra-Orthodox Jews and other conservative groups.